Phuket Question
 

Hi there,
I have around 70k miles and am interested in the most efficient way of getting to Phuket in March preferably in C or Premium. Two of us will be travelling. Am I better splitting the miles(i know there aren't that many of them) or just paying this time and building the miles for the next big trip later in the year? I am also a member of the Royal Orchid club and have around 10k miles left in there. I guess I am prepared to but one ticket in Prmium if needed.

Thanks for any help and enjoy the site.

If you can afford it, TG fares to Phuket (and you can have a stopover in Bangkok with limo to and from the airport if you want) are really good value. I know from Paris the price is something like £1650 in Business Class and £2650 in First, in other words far less than places like New York, Singapore or Tokyo. I guess prices from London are about the same. A round trip in First Class would get you (and the person you are travelling with, so they ought to join DC too) about 38,000 miles (plus monthly bonus if you are already at least Silver - and you will be after the outward trip, even if you aren't at the moment), or enough to move you from Silver to Gold in one go, or a good way to Gold if you are not yet silver. I bet this is a much better deal than putting the miles in a Royal Orchid Club account, as DC gives you 300% miles in TG First Class.

You'd need 60,000 miles and £455 plus tax for just one ticket award in C, and 80,000 miles and £540 for one in First. If you've got a choice (since there's not much point in going somewhere you don't want to go, just because it costs less!) it's much better value to use awards for routes which would be more expensive if you were paying for the tickets. 37,5000 miles plus £210, for example, gets you business class to anywhere in North America, including a stopover somewhere on the way to your final destination. That's a bargain.

Enjoy Phuket, but choose your resort according to whether you want relatively unspoilt beaches or rather rowdy, western-style nightlife (though it's small enough to have both if you want). I was there in November and flew back TG in F and was very impressed.

Ah, but 37,500 miles plus £210 also gets you to anywhere in South America, again including a stopover. Now THAT is a bargain :D

Well, thanks for that! Isn't that why we belong to FT? So that someone will point out to us something useful that we'd not registered, even though we thought we'd read the Guide to earning and spending miles from cover to cover. Because South America is a lot more expensive in other FF schemes, I'd just assumed it must be the same for DC. I must really go through that guide again and actually read what the the redemption levels are. You've given me an idea for my next mileage redemption. Thanks again! ^

I'm planning a similar trip myself at the moment for later this year, having had to cancel a trip to Buenos Aires and Rio at the last minute a couple of months ago. Another little trick is to book the trip as two one-ways, which allows for a stopover in each direction at effectively no extra cost.

Also, try to avoid RG unless you're short of time and absolutely have to use the GRU-LHR nonstop. TAP Portugal offer a very nice service and even fly from LIS to the beaches of Northern Brazil (Natal, Fortaleza) in addition to serving GIG and GRU. LH fly FRA-GRU-EZE and you will soon be able to book Swiss flights down to Brazil via Zurich, assuming they join *A in April as currently planned. RG are good for flights within South America though. Happy planning!

Or if your prepared to go a little out of your way, you could do a Zone 2 to Zone 8 award flight which would be 37500 miles + £255 + tax in Business class... You could do a routing like LIS-LHR-BKK-NRT and return....

I am doing a Hong Kong redemption in March starting in Copenhagen, going SAS to FRA then LH F to HK. 37,500 miles instead of 50,000 ex London, at an extra cost to me of 50 quid to get to CPH, plus obviously a bit more hassle.

If its LH F shouldnt it cost you 50,000 miles return?!? or 25,000 one way?!?! Perhaps you meant LH C as that would be correct... 37,500 zone 2 to zone 8:)

Thanks for all of the informed answers.

I did check the Thai site and they are looking for £2k out of LHR and around £1900 out of CDG and FRA. Is there a preferred consolidator you guys use for discounted C fares?

Also has anyone booked to go to the Far East using a BKK travel agent? I have just read that Thai allow "airport standby upgrades" for around £400 each way and apparently you get the points as well.

On www.thaiairways.fr Phuket is listed as 2416€ in business class, departing from CDG. I make that just over £1650 at today's rate (1.46€ to the pound). That's a D fare, so it will be quite flexible (other than being only valid on TG).

Too bad that you will be going in March, otherwise LX has great fares in C till BKK (£1400 or so)

OS is £1626.10 in J class LHR-VIE-HKT-VIE-LHR. I never knew you could fly nonstop between Europe and Phuket!

Cheers

I would keep well clear of TG in C on the CDG route as that is likely to be one of the last to get the new config a/c. I know they are down to their last 2 7441's but they are so bad I would do my utmost to eliminate any risk of getting one if I was in C.

AFIK they are now using the 7442 on the route (and have been since the end of October timetable change) - the ones with 14 sleeper seats rather than the old 18 seats in F. That was certainly the case when I flew at the end of November. But I don't know what the C seats are like on that version.

The completely new F and C seats will be very slow in spreading throughout the system and, as you say, Paris for some reason will be one of the last to get it.

I would recomend a zone 2 to 10 award splitted in 2 ow´s.
like
CPH-BKK-KTM KTM-BKK-CPH-LHR-MIL
this is 15k + 105 GBP per o.w. so 30k + 210 GBP in total for a C class ticket.
and the "clou" on this is, CPH-BKK-CPH is a 7442 model sold F-cabin as C class ! So you sit in the same F cabin like from CDG, but for much less. ;)

We went to Thailand in November on a BA ex-Milan ticket in Club World. Price was £1,500 each, which gets you BA's nice flat bed, in our case upstairs both ways.

Italy is still the cheapest place - outside Tripoli - to start a BA CW to Thailand but the price is now £1,800 and you need availability in D which can be tricky. You could build in a stopover like we did - we bought an EasyJet single to Milan and came back on the first leg of the BKK ticket, then went LHR-BKK two weeks later.

A business class connection to Phuket will be literally £55 each way, £30 in economy. You will get a long haul plane, probably - a bit of a novelty for an internal!